Thursday, May 5, 2016

ARC Review: Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy

Never Let You Go is the sequel to Never Tear Us Apart by Monica Murphy. This book is not a standalone and continues the story from the first book. If you have not read NTUA, I would recommend starting there and being mindful of possible spoilers below. I will warn readers that because of the content here, as with the first book, that if you have any possible triggers with violence or rape that you take that into consideration before starting this story.

Never Let You Go picks up where Never Tear Us Apart left off. Katie has learned that Ethan is actually Will and that he has been lying to her since he has been in her life. Though the connection between them is one that she can't argue, she knows that she can't trust him fully now that he has deceived her. But with everything that they have been through together, both of them know that no one else will ever understand them the way that they understand each other. As Katie and Ethan try to move forward with their lives, the media and Ethan's father threaten to tear them apart once and for all.

Knowing all that these two had been through, it was easy to see how both of them had issues that would likely never fully go away. But I have to admit that there were times here that Katie annoyed me with the fact that she let others influence her opinion of Ethan. He had given her some reason to question his motives by lying, but with his actions all he had ever done was protect her and care about her. Even his keeping his identity a secret from her was for a reason, even if it was one I didn't agree with. But their connection was so strong that I really just wanted her to let it all go and trust in what they had between them. Their chemistry was as strong as ever here, and you could really see that these two had so much love between them even if it came from them coming together under circumstances that no one should ever have to go through.

I really loved seeing these two try to move on together though, and even if they weren't together right away here they worked well together. They spent time together getting to know who each of them had become, and it really felt like they were making progress over the entire course of this book even with Katie's trust issues. The media situation felt a bit over the top at times, and I really hated Lisa the reporter as well as Katie's sister Brenna. Actually besides Katie, Ethan, the neighbor Viv, Ethan's friend Jay, and Molly the dog I really didn't like a single character here. The ending felt a bit rushed to me and it wasn't entirely satisfying knowing that there was so much time spent elsewhere here in this book and then the story was just over so quickly with all being resolved and wonderful as easily as it was. I felt like even though it was a good ending for these characters that it just didn't feel entirely genuine and everything seemed to almost be a bit too perfect for how much these two had been through. While I did like the characters and the story overall, this book just didn't pack the same punch the first one did and I just wanted a bit more of what I had loved so much about the first story. I still think that this series is worth the read though even with those criticisms, especially with the story being so different from everything else out there.